Oh I love this Digi. Ike did a series of Digi's together of wonderful faces, all in various and sundry positions of oddness and freakoness...something I just love that she does. There are two I am crazy about (so go check out her faces at www.ikesart.com and everything else of course too!) This would be at Ike's Store. This one speaks to me so loudly of "do we want to hide beneath our skin or do we want to reveal what is under our skin" and in any moment this digi gives that choice.

So for the theme FANTASY, I decided I would give our gal the choice, to have her castle and her wonderful stars and flutterbyes and her options - full and beautiful - and of course lovely colors to go with it!

Challenging! Two colors (white being the absence of color) but yet I am one known for leaving no white space so double challenging for me!

I had these lovely word art pieces from Brave Girls, left over from a workshop, and they seemed perfect for this piece.

It felt like a piece about staying strong, meeting the struggles of life, not giving up, keeping it simple.

Yet acknowledging how dimensional life can be, can get, can seem - even when we do our best to keep it simple.We pray, we meditate, we breathe...but sometimes it all just seems out of our hands.

However, when we least expect it, something happens. An "aha" moment, the moment of "rapture", the solution we have been seeking or just quite simply that sunny day we have been praying for.And before we know it...we are right back in balance, ready to meet a new challenge...but happy, strong, resiliant - and moreso than before the last problem or challenge started!

It may show from previous challenges that my main Spiritual Focus is Metaphysics, and within Metaphysics - Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has been someone I have revered, seeing him twice and admiring his way, his path and his perseverence, persistence and patience in life.

He is someone I consider to live "Close to the Ground" in every way, so when I decided to ask IKE to draw up The Elements for me, I had in mind The Dalai Lama.

His Worship, is simply the Backdrop for the Worldly Elements as I perceive it - so this was very straight forward for me...I had only to play with the wonderful way in which IKE detailed the digis until I was happy how they shadowed over the image.

Well, this card has alot of meaning for me. When my first born, Jordan, came along I fell in love with this stuffed monkey and gave it to him as his "beloved" toy. And so it was - it went everywhere with him.

G-d forbid I should lose it (as I did with his sister's Puffalump, as you would have read a few posts back!)From that moment on, I surrounded Jordan - more like suffocated his room with monkeys - of every color, form, size and brand. Yup - my OCD was in full form.

At 19 he finally said to me "Mom - I think it is enough with the Monkey's" and I am sure he was dying to say this to me for years! But mensch (man) that he is, he didn't hurt his mommy's feelings when he got one for each birthday and holiday. (omg this is embarrassing now that I think of it and he is 30 years old and a father!)Well - my Jordan had a baby girl who is now 7 months old. When I went to see Cadence Rose one day - the day she got her high chair - I went into the kitchen and she was with her mom upstairs. I talked to Jordan and we began to cook together. I turned around to get something he asked me to get and just about fell over!!!!Guess what was sitting, with one arm propped on the high chair table - YUP - Jordan's original Monkey - that one I bought him when he was a wee little baby!He decided he would pass on the tradition to his little girl. Ohhhh I was in tears. My first born thought enough of this to give the tradition (it sounds like Fiddler on the Roof at this point) to his offspring!!!!

So, as Jordan was sure to know - Cadence Rose has received a few Monkeys and will continue to, until one day she says to me "Granny, I think it is enough with the Monkey's."

And that is the story of why I went over to Stitchy's and then to Coosty's Creations and chose Baby Chimp for not only my man project, but I then turned it into my son Jordan's Birthday Card for his 30th - hee hee hee! Somehow, with Cadence covetting Jordan's original I felt I had permission again to give my Jordan this Chimp!!!!